Posts tagged ‘recipes’

I like entertaining and brunch is favorite meal of mine, both to make and to eat. One of the easiest menus I use is to center the meal around a large seasonal frittata, such as an herb, cheese and vegetable recipe. Once I’ve decided on the frittata, I surround that savory dish with a fruit salad, potatoes, breads and/or danish. Sometimes I add additional protein on the side like smoked salmon, sausages and/or bacon.

Frittatas are basically an Italian version of the omelette, but they are served open-faced and not folded over – though some frittata recipes do remind me more of a quiche than an omlette, but without the crust. Otherwise, frittatas are pretty versatile and easy to make, just decide on the filling, vegetables, meat and/or cheese, stir in well-beaten-eggs, then finish off in the oven. Nothing could easier, as such you’ll find that there hundreds of recipes and a handful of techniques, for instance partially cooking the frittata on the stove top and then finishing off in the oven.

Frittatas should be very thick and made with just about any ingredient you have on hand. I’ve seen recipes that add sour cream and/or milk to help add body and volume to the eggs, while others swear all that is needed for height are well beaten eggs with lots of air in them, I’ve eaten and enjoyed them all ways.

Frittatas make a great meal anytime; not only for breakfast/brunch but also for lunch and dinner as well. Try one with a salad, some olives and crusty bread on the side—deliziosa.

According to Wikipedia, the omelette is believed to have originated in the Ancient Near East… “This dish is thought to have traveled to Western Europe via the Middle East and North Africa, with each country adapting the original recipe to produce Italian frittata, Spanish tortilla and the French omelette.”

Probably most famous is the the classic French Omelette, but what makes it French? As with the scrambled egg recipes, we see that technique has as much to do with a recipe as ingredients do, possible more. Check out this vintage video of Julia Child whipping up an omelette for dinner, notice her clever use chopsticks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWmvfUKwBrg

And talk about technique, watch Jacques Pepin’s technique in this demonstration of the Classic French Omelette

Yum. Once you’ve got your technique down, you might want to consider stuffing that perfect omelette with your favorite fillings, my one suggestion is to keep all your ingredients as fresh as your eggs and enjoy!

Have a favorite recipe? Send us a link or post a photo to our Flickr feed!

When it comes to scrambled eggs, passions stir and battles rage over the proper technique. Some like eggs loose, wet and well … somewhat mushy. Others believe in eggs that are fluffy but firm. For me, I prefer my eggs well done, though not too dry.

Take for example the technique of the amazing Ina Garten – aka the Barefoot Contessa – as celebrated in this post at Eatocracy. Reading the post will only take a few minutes, mind you properly following the cooking instructions will take near to 30 minutes to create the perfect scrambled eggs … ‘slow and steady wins the race’ indeed!

Now take a look at www.mrbreakfast.com, obviously this cook knows a thing or two about eggs! According to Mr Breakfast, the perfect scrambled eggs lies in the whisking technique, note scientific illustrations below.